The Glue Holding Together Urban Communities

When you think about it the church is an anomaly in society. Think about it … what other group or organization cares about (1) people’s spiritual lives, (2) people’s personal lives and families, (3) people’s physical lives, (4) their community and it’s welfare and well-being whether its the natural or built environment, (5) the different facets of city and city life, (6) the arts and creativity, and we’re only touching the tip of the iceberg.

I’m looking at and surveying 200 church plants that have began since the year 2000 in several cities out West and one of the common themes I’ve seen all throughout is the church’s involvement in all levels of culture and society. Churches aren’t just a bunch of Christians getting together one hour a week on Sunday mornings singing a few songs and listening to a lecture … they really are transforming agents. Each church surveyed is involved in the fabric of city life in some way, shape, or form and the various ways are as diverse and creative as there are in the number of churches. Make no doubt about it these churches are rolling up their sleeves and jumping in with both feet.  They not only care about people’s spiritual lives but overall I see a good application of Jeremiah 29:7.

I wonder how much these churches and others really are the glue that hold together the communities they’re in.  Sure, there are many instances where if the church would disappear no one would really notice but if these newer churches are any indication that many not be so true any more. While it may not be as big as a deal to the public eye as the closing of a shopping mall or a Walmart if a church were to cease to exist in a community there would definitely be a hole. Churches are involved in poverty and homeless issues, education whether it’s tutoring or after-school programs, working with various art districts, opening up their own galleries or coffee shops, providing recreational and social opportunities for residents in high-rise buildings, and we’re only just getting started.

Is it safe to say that the church really is an unstoppable force? One hand the church is offering hope for people’s spiritual and personal lives and on the other hand they’re not just talking but jumping head-first into the various social issues on scene today.

What Should The Church Do With Gentrification?

The last time I checked my memory banks I haven’t heard any message at a church gathering dealing with the church’s response to gentrification. While many probably don’t know what the term is they’ve seen what it is about if they’ve driven through a city. Simply put, gentrification is “the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.”

There are many things about it that are wonderful and good. Who doesn’t want to see a decaying inner city neighborhoods turn around, reclaim its historical roots, and become beautiful? What city doesn’t want or need an influx of people moving back into the city? Many times these are the neighborhoods that became “hoods” full of drugs, prostitution, and violence. I remember talking to a church planter in the Lafayette Park neighborhood in St. Louis and he told me about the early gentrifiers in that area. If you go there today what you’ll see are gorgeous old homes that have been refurbished along with trendy shops, coffee shops, and eateries popping up. But 20 years ago it was the people who lived there who decided to take their neighborhood back. It was one of the city’s leading areas as far as drug use/sales and prostitution. But the homeowners would walk the streets and the alleys at night in tandems watching over their neighborhood determined to take it back. Now that’s an amazing story!

The only point of struggle is when lower income families get priced right out of their neighborhood. How should the church respond? I think one of the ways they can is to build a relationship with local city leaders as well as the developers and business owners. This was they can be a voice calling for the fair treatment of those less fortunate whether that is making sure there are provisions for affordable housing in the neighborhood or adequate schools and so on. While I know many want to make these gentrified neighborhoods exclusive enclaves there’s something to be said when people can rub shoulders on a regular basis that spans racial as well as socio-economic lines. The church can help foster this leading to things like reconciliation and the fair treatment of those less fortunate.

Is There Such Thing As An Urban Ecclesiology?

Church is contextual and there is little debate about that. While you may think you’re doing church the way they did it in the 1st century more than likely you’re not. That’s not a knock on you or your church but simply to say the way the church expresses itself changes and morphs depending on the host culture. Yes, the Gospel is changeless as well as numerous core facets of the church are universal but there’s a lot that is adapted to culture. Let me give you an example:

Do you think the church in Corinth had electric guitars, coffee shops, Powerpoint, and tight jeans in the 1st century?  More than likely not …. maybe a tight toga but that’s it. What happened? Did the church compromise? No, it simply adapted to culture.

We know that the term “ekklesia” in ancient Greece was derived from ek-kaleo which was used to summon the army to assemble (kaleo means “to call”). In the 5th century the term was used for the assembly of citizens of a polis (city). Even in the book of Acts (19:24-25) that term was to describe an assembly called by Demetrius who was an idol worshipper. So when the new followers of Jesus hit the scene this common termed was used to describe them. They were a called out assembly of people gathering to worship Jesus, proclaim the Gospel, and be outposts of the Kingdom of God living out Jesus’ words in John 20:21-22.

So Christians in the city are called out to assemble together to worship Jesus and proclaim the Gospel. Does urban environments affect the way the gathering is done? Some advocate that the way church is done does not change from rural to suburban to urban. Even advocates of urban church planting stop at some point back in church history when they talk  about their expression of church with such terms as a Reformed ecclesiology, Orthodox ecclesiology, or other terms like “centrality of the pulpit” and so on. These are not bad but simply adaptations to the times and cultures the church expressed itself in. New churches being planting in urban environments have a great opportunity to lean on the wisdom of church history, apply biblical principles of the way church was found in the NT, and leave the rest to contextualizing church to the host culture. If that sounds nuts then realize that that’s what the church has been doing since it’s birth in the 1st century.

Proof? You’re probably not wearing a toga today.

The Creative Class and the Role of Preaching

If preaching/teaching is always contextual then when one is engaging the Creative Class then how does it alter the way we approach communicating God’s Word? A quick survey through some of the key people in the New Testament reveals how adept they were to adapting their methodology when it came to communicating God’s Word to various audiences. Jesus told a lot of agricultural stories, Peter relied heavily upon the Old Testament when speaking to fellow Jews at Pentecost, and Paul quoted local poets and referenced regional deities when addressing the Athenians. When speaking to the Creative Class how are we to “go and do likewise?”

The Creative Class tend to be tech savvy urban hipsters and while those are very broad parameters it’s a good start. People in Bible times didn’t have the chance to use any modern technology like we have today when teaching but then again just look at some of the antics of the prophets and you’ll see how creatively they did teach. They simply used what was around to communicate what God was saying to the people. What about today? For example, Epic Church in Tucson uses Twitter throughout the preaching element as well as text messaging. In a culture where everyone tweets everything they hear, see, or think then the church can certainly tap in. Some may argue that people just need to sit down, shut up, and simply passively listen. You tell me where someone does that today in our culture?  School? Not really as it’s pretty interactive. Where do we go in our culture today where someone talks at you for 45 minutes without any chance to respond or interact?

The core issue is to be able to effectively communicate God’s Word in a culturally applicable manner and we know that methodology has and does change from culture to culture and time to time. Many think to change or alter the way you communicate God’s Word is altering the message and that is simply not true. Again, the say it out loud principle goes something like this,”If you were to communicate God’s Word to an illiterate rural people in some other remote part of the world would you use a 45 minute lecture format?” Ok, so we know that answer … the question is, “Why not?” Context. Context is everything. The bottom line is to be able to effectively communicate God’s Word and in a contextualized way where the hearers are not turned off by the methodology.

So when communicating God’s Word to a tech savvy urban crowd who’s used to multi-tasking and being connected to technology all day then what does that look like?  You tell me …

New Urbanism: Renewing the City Or Are They The New Suburbs?

As you know I’m all about seeing cities renewed whether that be spiritually, socially, or the built environment.  There’s nothing more exciting than to see new churches planted in the heart of the city or seeing urban family’s lives renewed as they grow into who God wants them to to be. There’s also something incredibly exciting about seeing old decayed neighborhoods turn around and turn into swank places to live, hang out, or simply visit. There are many aspects of this movement of new urbanism that goes hand-in-hand with not only the way life should be lived but how community is to be formed and expressed in the church. However, sometimes behind the veneer of trendy sushi eateries and coffee shops is something not so pleasant.

I’m all for many of the elements of gentrification as it brings more focus, attention, and investment back into the city.  There’s something refreshing and encouraging to see old homes and buildings restored and renewed with a modern twist. Many times such efforts are a hope and an attempt to reverse or curb the flight to the suburbs to bring more people back into the city. I like to use St. Louis as an example because I know they’ve gone from over 800,000 people in 1950 down to 330,000 today within the city limits. More people moving back into the city would be good all around. Sometimes I struggle because usually when we talk about more people moving back into the city usually we’re referring to Whites. A lot of times gentrification pushes ethnic families right out of neighborhoods where they’ve lived for years.

I know many developers who’re involved in the process of renewing neighborhoods do seek to provide affordable housing along with the market rate ones which is a good start. I remember the little town I grew up in and for the most part everyone lived side by side regardless of income or socio-economic status. Sometimes in the suburbs you basically get a slice of one socio-economic level living all together and sending their kids to the same school. One of the gems of things like new urbanism/gentrification is to have a great diversity of ethnicity as well as socio-economic classes all living together, doing life together, and even part of the same church together.  That would be a great reflection of the overall church universal and something beautiful.

Some of the downsides of church planting, like trendy gentrified neighborhoods, is where we’re targeting simply one class and if stats hold out it is usually among middle or upper class White suburban families. Sometimes even when church planting is in the city core it is still among trendy White urban hipsters and then the question arises … are gentrified neighborhoods then the new suburbs?

Theology of Walmart

It seems about twice a year I end up blogging on the subject of Walmart because it just seems so prevalent in my thinking about the confluence of church, ethnic groups, and culture. Let me explain …

Last night I made a late night Walmart run to pick up some cough medicine for Grant who’s been pretty ill. Of course its always helpful to have a 24-hour Walmarrt handy and so I was there at about 10:30 PM. As we transition to Vancouver we’re staying at my Mom’s in SE Missouri for a few more weeks before we move.  It’s a fun little town with 50-60,000 in the metro area. It’s mostly White with about 10% African American. But at Walmart?  It’s all different.

Last night I felt like I was in a large urban center and if you were to judge based upon who was at Walmart you’d probably guess the same. I saw a handful of Chinese students/young adults, several different Indian (south Asian) families, Hispanics, others from various Asian countries, and from what I could tell eastern Europeans as well.  I was shocked because everywhere else I go throughout the area I don’t see that at all.  Depending on the part of town you’re in you’ll mostly see White or Black, but at Walmart … everyone shows up.

As I’ve been doing my research looking at 7 cities out west and the landscape of church planting I’ve been pretty shocked, especially in cities where it’s very ethnically diverse. I’ve spent countless hours scouring websites, looking at all of their photo galleries and Flickr streams and from what I gather here’s what I see … White people worship with White people, Blacks worship with blacks, Chinese worship with Chinese, Koreans worship with Koreans, Hispanics worship with Hispanics … but yet you can find them all equally at Walmart. I’ve seen all-White churches planted in Asian neighborhoods with 95% Whites worshipping at the church and there’s 200 people there.

Why can’t the church look more like Walmart as far as who’s connected to it?  Sure, if we combine all of the churches across a metro area it would be very diverse but what’s holding us back from connecting together weekly? If Walmart can do it and all they’re offering is lower prices then why can’t we since we’re proclaiming the reality that God is among us? I’ve seen churches planted in city center cores where its some of the most ethnically diverse places on the continent but everyone in all of the church photos whether staff, small groups, or their worship gatherings are White.  Why?

I don’t know why but it is always exciting to make a late night run to Walmart.

Imperfect Worship

Last night I witnessed something pretty cool. I spoke to a college group/campus ministry on campus and had an amazing time. It was simple, straight-forward and refreshing. Once the music began I quickly noticed that from time to time the percussionist would be off beat … sometimes subtly and other times more noticeably and blatant. But the great thing was that it didn’t really matter.  It didn’t detract, distract, not even take away from the experience.  As a matter of fact that element alone enhanced everything.  Why? Worship is not about being good but simply worshipping, period.

I guess I tire of hearing how giving God “our best” and words like “excellence” is a cover-up to our feeble attempt to entertain people into the Kingdom.  I know those are strong words and I know full well how powerful music is in culture but come on, do we really think a kickin’ band draws people into the Kingdom? Maybe this is an issue of foundationalism. If the main thing we’re “selling” to get people to come to our worship gatherings and then to stick is our music then I would say we’re off track.

I’m not downplaying good music and we all know it when we hear it but last night as we talked about church history, culture, and wordview shifts I couldn’t help but notice how when the church is birthed in any culture there will be beautiful aspects that radiate the bride of Christ and at the same time there will be blind spots that we simply cannot see because this is the culture we live in and breathe in. How much of the culture’s capitalism and materialism has influenced the church today?  I know this is somewhat an old and well-trodden topic that has been picked apart by many but every now and then I just wonder … and wonder out loud.

I’m also not too sure where the balance is as well. I like good music but at the same time there’s something refreshing about a simple gathering of people who’re there to worship. No polish, no smooth transitions, but simple adoration of God. I also realize that that doesn’t have to be separated from high quality of music.  I’m simply afraid we’ve high-jacked worship to be about having and doing trendy music and if you’re not fortunate to have access to great bands then you’re a second-rate church because you don’t quite have down the latest Crowder or Tomlin songs.

The Gospel and the City

The Christian in the city is a both a foreigner and also one most at home. Foreigner in the sense that we’re to be in the world and not of it. We’re to live in the city at the same time as living out the Gospel while not taking on the value system of our host city in areas where it stands in stark contrast to following God. But we’re also at home knowing that our final destination involves a mega-city (New Jerusalem). Throughout history the tension between the Gospel or Christian and the city has been full of tension.  Where did we go awry?

“Ironically, Christianity’s rapid growth could not have taken place without the empire’s expansive urban infrastructure. Christianity utilized Roman means for its evangelical ends, but the faith itself rejected many of the city-empires’ core values.” (The City, 36)

It is no surprise that early on Christians viewed city with dismay and even disgust. “Rome was, as one Christian writer put it, ‘a city created for corruption of the human race, for the sake of whose rule the entire world has undeservedly been subjugated.’” (37) It was said of Cyprian, who was the bishop of Carthage (3rd century A.D.), that he celebrated when various plagues hit Rome and other cities. To be honest, that sounds awfully a lot like when many others around the world celebrated with the passenger planes were crashed into the twin towers in NYC. “This antiurban perspective was most famously expressed by Saint Augustine in his The City of God.” (37)

So where did we go awry … or did we? Some Christians view the city as corrupt, ungodly, and it stands against everything God is for.  On the other hand some Christians view the city as a means of God’s common grace given to all of humanity. This common grace includes the infrastructure that we all share and take part in … public schools, healthcare, transportation, law enforcement, and so on.  These are means of God imparting His grace to all of humanity who lives in cities and part of His blessing for us to benefit from and enjoy. Is that true or is the city nothing but steel, concrete, and decadence?

We see that historically the Gospel spread along urban lines.  The travels of Paul were from one city to another. If he had a strategy then it was to target key metro areas in the empire to proclaim the Gospel.  So we see that since the very beginning there has always been a home for the Gospel in the city.  Without it and its infrastructure it would not have spread like it did … or still does today.

Does Your Church Match the City’s Brand?

Every city has a brand, a flavor, a vibe, a feel, mojo, moxy, swagger , or whatever you want to call it.  Obviously some cities are more prominent than others but you get the idea.  There are some cities with such global momentum that it takes little to keep the rockets lit and their “brand expansion” from rapidly moving forward.  On the other hand there are cities that are doing everything they can to be the next “it” and will underfund their schools just to get more people to love their city which means they’ll move there which at the end of the day could put more money back into the schools (or the way the theory goes).

Does your city have an identifiable brand?  If so, what is it?  The follow-up question then is whether or not your church/church plant fits into the larger brand? For example, if you’re planting in Portland, Oregon do you know the city’s brand?  Eco-friendly, sustainable, focused in distinct neighborhoods, and so on.  Does your church fit because if you’re planting in The Pearl in downtown Portland but you drive a 1990 Chevy Suburban that’s sucking gas (10 mpg) while you’re sporting a mullet and listening to Achy Breaky Heart you might not quite understand your city’s brand nor are you fitting in.

If you’re beginning the process of planting a church one of the first things you’ll be doing is exegeting your community.  As you’re in that process you’ll want to uncover not only the city’s brand but also that of the neighborhood you’re planting in. A city will have an over-arching brand (or you could call it a “story”) but each neighborhood has their own brand (or story) that fits into the overall one. If your church is about making an impact on your city then what you do needs to be a good cultural fit.  Obviously there are aspects of the church and the Gospel that will never fit because people just won’t or can’t understand the implications of a bloody cross where Jesus was murdered for our sins.

Are you a good fit for the city you’re planting in?  That’s a great question to ask yourself because you need to wrestle through it.  Is God indeed calling you there and you’re to leave your preferences behind and blend in culturally? Or has God truly made you a distinct way for a specific reason that is to be played out in a special kind of city? If you’re a hardcore conservative Republican then maybe planting in the Castro District in San Francisco may not be your cup of tea unless you adapt well to other cultures.

What’s your city’s brand and how is your church/church plant fitting in?

Loving the City Goes Beyond the Bread Line

Somewhere in our thinking about loving and serving people in the city we’ve defaulted to dishing out helpings of instant potatoes at bread lines. While this is indeed a worthy (and godly) endeavor it is only the tip of the iceberg. I would venture to say that most feel a love for their city but it is usually accompanied by guilt because you’re not feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving, nor volunteering at an inner-city after school program, or helping out with a Habitat for Humanity housing project. How did we become so myopic in our thinking?

Maybe you need to ask yourself this question, “What needs to take place for my city to be better?” Yes, I know the temptation is to simply blurt out “get everyone saved” but that’s too simplistic and shallow of an answer.  The problems aren’t always spiritual in nature and may have to do with issues like affordable housing, branding a city, redeveloping the central business district, retaining college graduates and so on. Maybe the reason why you have so much violence in your city is that because it has a horrible economy with a high employment which means many men are at home instead of at work which means domestic violence escalates through the roof. While salvation is indeed life-transforming on the personal and familial level what about saving the city as well?

There’s been much written about how cities prosper and advance simply because they’re able to retain their college students.  If you show me a city who’s losing college graduates (talent) in huge numbers you’ll see a city that has a struggling economy. A city needs to not only retain but attract these grads that make up part of the “knowledge economy.”

“What are the things that cities have to be really good at to be successful in a knowledge economy? We concluded that cities had to be really good at talent, connections, distinctiveness, and innovation. A strong city core was an accelerator of all four of those dimensions.” (Carol Coletta in Next American City magazine)

So what do you do if you love and care for your city and want to get involved? Maybe you can begin but taking a deeper looking at the four things listed in the quote above … “Talent, connections, distinctiveness, innovation.” What can you do, or what can your church do, to contribute to one of those areas? For example, how can you / your church be apart in revitalizing and stabilizing your downtown core?

“A strong core is proving to be valuable in ways we never imagined. We learned, for instance, that metro areas with a strong core, a strong central business district, hold their real estate values throughout the metro area better than those metro areas with weak cores. So those cities that have invested in the core and been judicious in the planning and development of the rest of the metro area, I think, have been very well served.” (Carol Coletta)

Love your city and give yourself the freedom to serve it in ways that makes sense to you that goes with the way God made you. There are many ways that you can be involved in serving your city. The church needs to simply give itself permission to be innovative in this way and once you blow the lid off your creativity then there’s no telling how the church can truly impact and influence entire cities.  Think about it …